An Inconvenient Journalist

Al Gore notoriously refuses to debate the scientific merits of his book and movie about global warming, both titled An Inconvenient Truth. At a conference of environmental journalists, however, he briefly deigned to answer questions. The journalist who directed Not Evil, Just Wrong, a documentary that criticizes Gore’s alarmism, took advantage of the opportunity to ask Gore about the British judge who found that there were at least nine scientific errors in Gore’s film. The exchange is pretty entertaining; it ends with the journalist’s microphone being cut off:

Gore’s claim that the judge found in favor of his movie is ridiculous. The case was brought by a parent who objected to the film being shown to British schoolchildren on the ground that it is propaganda, not science. The judge found that An Inconvenient Truth “is a political film” that is riddled with scientific mistakes. He held that as such, it would be illegal for the government to require the film to be shown in schools unless it was accompanied by “guidance” pointing out that the film contains a number of scientific errors. The judge concluded that the claimant who objected to the film “substantially won this case by virtue of my finding that, but for the new guidance note, the film would have been distributed in breach of sections 406 and 407 of the 1996 Education Act.” So Gore’s claim that the British court found in favor of his film is untrue.
The journalist is correct, by the way, that polar bear populations are increasing, not decreasing. He is also right, I think, in saying that most environmental journalism is mere cheerleading and not true journalism at all.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses